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NWAG has a Busy Weekend

posted by Bob Barnard
on Mon, 31/10/2016 - 12:49

The North West Area Group has had a busy weekend!

On Friday 28 October 2016, Bob Barnard braved rush-hour traffic jams to give his talk “The Lynton & Barnstaple Railway – Then and Now” to the Railway Correspondence and Travel Society’s Lancashire and North West Branch in Preston. With an audience of fifteen or so gathered in a local tennis club (and with a noisy firework display in progress nearby, at the start!), the talk was very well-received. The vote of thanks was given by an RCTS member whose first planned visit to Lynton and Lynmouth, whilst on holiday in Devon in August 1952, had to be abandoned because of the exceedingly heavy rain…

The RCTS kindly made a donation to the L&B Trust, and one person purchased a book from the small selection displayed.

On Saturday 29 October (whilst Bob was allowed a lie-in after his late evening), Peter Ainley, Ron Dumbell and Dave Prime were in action with the NW group’s L&B stand and sales table at the Wallasey show of the Merseyside Model Railway Society.

On Sunday, it was Bob and Stuart Robertson who were at Wallasey for the second day of the show. It was good to meet several L&B members there – our second visit to this venue – and it was noticeable that the majority of people we spoke to had visited Woody Bay at some stage, with many vowing to return soon to view more recent progress. Also noticeable was that a number of visitors took membership forms (without any prompting by us!). L&B books sold well over the weekend, with several people browsing to find the titles not yet in their collections (apologies to Malcolm, who found we had sold out of the one book he wanted!).

Stuart deep in discussion with a visitor to the L&B stand

Discussions with various friends on other stands confirmed one booking for a model layout and society stand for April 2017, and led to provisional plans for another L&B talk and another exhibition appearance later next year.

Thanks are due to all those who gave their time, and helped over the weekend.

At both the talk and the show, we were pleased to meet non-members who regularly follow the L&B website, and who were full of praise for its varied and interesting content, and frequent updates.